The Linke-Hofmann R.II (''
Riesenflugzeug
A ''Riesenflugzeug'' (plural ''Riesenflugzeuge'', German for "giant aircraft"), sometimes colloquially referred to in English as an R-plane, was any member of a class of large World War I German bombers, possessing at least three aircraft engines, ...
'' – "giant aircraft") was a bomber aircraft designed and built in
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
from 1917.
Design and development
The
Linke-Hofmann R.I had disappointing performance and handling, as well as structural weakness with both prototypes crashing. Linke-Hofmann took a radically different approach for their second ''Riesenflugzeug'', the Linke-Hofmann R.II. The R.II was an approximately three-fold scale-up of a conventional single-engined biplane, powered by a quartet of
Mercedes D.IVa inline-six engines turning a single 6.90 meter (22 ft 7.5 in) diameter
tractor
A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or construction. Most commo ...
propeller, the largest single propeller ever used to propel any aircraft in aviation history.
The quartet of Mercedes powerplants were arranged in pairs in the central fuselage and drove the propeller through clutches, shafts and gearboxes. The Linke-Hofmann R.II, probably the largest single propeller driven aircraft that will ever be built, had a wing span of , length of and height of .
[As a comparison, the Boeing B-29 Superfortress heavy bomber of World War II had a wingspan of around .]
The airframe was constructed largely of wood, with plywood covering the forward fuselage and a steel-tube v-strut chassis main undercarriage with two wheels and a tail-skid at the aft end of the fuselage. Two examples of the R.II had been completed by the time of the
Armistice
An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from the ...
. They bore the ''
IdFlieg'' German military registration numbers R.55/17 and R.56/17.
Flight testing of R 55/17 was carried out after the Armistice in 1919, demonstrating acceptable performance and handling, being able to fly happily with only two engines driving the enormous propeller. Normal endurance was estimated to be 7 hours, but with adjustment of load and a cruising speed of it was estimated that the R.II could stay aloft for 30 hours.
There were plans to make it a 12-passenger airliner after the war, but the restrictions of the
Versailles Treaty
The Treaty of Versailles (french: Traité de Versailles; german: Versailler Vertrag, ) was the most important of the peace treaties of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 19 ...
ended further development.
Specifications (Linke-Hofmann R.II)
See also
Notes
References
;Citations
Further reading
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External links
* http://www.airwar.ru/enc/bww1/linker2.html
FlyingMachines.ru Linke-Hofmann R.II page
{{Idflieg R-class designations
1910s German bomber aircraft
Four-engined tractor aircraft
Four-engined piston aircraft
Aircraft first flown in 1919
de:Linke-Hofmann R-Typen